[Elspode]

Well, shit. Now, *that's* the nicest thing anyone has said to me.

I've mentioned before that I have written professionally exactly twice in my life, both times in very limited formats and for limited audiences. I did very well as an editor/arts reviewer/editorialist for the UMKC (University of Missouri-Kansas City) UNews. My work was well received by readers, and most importantly to me at the time, lauded by the professorial sponsor of the newspaper. He repeatedly cited my work as the best of all the staff, and when he was critical, it was unerringly constructive and totally valid. Odd...I never met the man, but I will carry his praise and critiques with me to the grave. He was absolutely dead on.

My only other "publish for pay" instance was a sidebar thing that I wrote for the KC edition of The Pitch. It was a horrid experience. I was writing about a fairly serious event that was in the "elaboration on upcoming events" section, a weekend seminar given by a highly qualified and well known Reiki master from Australia. I wrote and rerwrote this trifling piece five times (and we're talking a five paragraph article, here), only to have it repeatedly rejected by the twenty-something section editor, who wanted it to be "edgier, more flippant, trendier..."

My biggest limitation in writing is that I really only do well when describing reality. I rarely succeed in fabricating quality work out of nothing. Even the few songs I've written over the years are always based on reality.

But I do very much appreciate the support I always get from my Cellar family. In truth, it is this sort of positive strokes that matter to me. The rest is bullshit.